Savory Mung Bean Pancakes, Bindaetteok

A while ago I was contacted by “Kimchi Chronicles“, the sentational PBS series on Korean food.

Marja Vongerichten, the wife of famous chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, shared true beauties of not only many Korean delicacies but the cultures that follows. I have been a big fan of the show and enjoyed many episodes.

It is my honor to be as their first guest blogger to present a post.

So here I am, presenting a wonderful savory mung bean pancakes called Bindatteok.

Although this dish used to be considered as a poor man’s fare, it’s an undeniable favorite with Koreans of every social class.

It might have started as a humble dish for the commoners, but the flavor is as rich as the queen of England.

I adapted the Mrs. Rhee’s recipe in the Kimchi Chronicles Cookbook with a few tweaks to make it my own. You will find my guest post in their blog here.

Mung bean are tiny whole green-colored beans. I recommend to use split mung beans; their skins have been removed revealing delicate yellow beans. You can find them easily in any Asian grocery stores.

Directions:

Combine rinsed mung beans and rice in a large bowl. Add cold water and soak for at least 6 hours up to 24 in the fridge. Drain and rinse them. Set aside.

This is Korean wild fern. Widely used in bibimbap and this bindaetteok. You can omit this if you can’t find.

Blanch mung bean sprouts in the boiling water for 1 minute and squeeze gently with both hands to remove some moisture.

Chop your fermented kimchi and set aside. The sourer you kimchi is, the better it gets.

My mouth is salivating just to to say the word, “sour kimchi”, Gulp!

Season minced pork with garlic, salt and pepper and mix well.

Put the beans and rice in the blender and process with 1/4 cup water. Add 1/2 cup kimchi juice for the blade to turn and stir a bit in the process so that they can blend easily. Do not over puree, it should be coarsely smooth. Pour the mixture in a large mixing bowl.

Mix in all the ingredients in the bowl.

Add soy sauce, salt and pepper and mix well.

Heat generous amount of oil in the skillet over medium heat and and spread 2-3 Tablespoonful of batter.

Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until it get brown crisp. Add more oil if the pan seems dry.

Place a few slices of chilies on one side as a garnish if you like.

Yum, yum, yum!

Many Koreans eat these pancakes with soju, the Korean vodka,
but they go just as well with a cold glass of Coke.

Combine rinsed mung beans and rice in a large bowl. Add cold water and soak for at least 6 hours up to 24 in the fridge. Drain and rinse them. Set aside.

Season minced pork with garlic, salt and pepper and mix well.

Put the beans and rice in the blender and process with 1/4 cup water. Add 1/2 cup kimchi juice for the blade to turn and stir a bit in the process so that they can blend easily. Do not over puree, it should be coarsely smooth. Pour the mixture in a large mixing bowl

Mix in pork, kimchi, mung bean sprouts, and fern with pureed beans and rice in the bowl.

Add soy sauce, salt and pepper and mix well.

Heat generous amount of oil in the skillet over medium heat and and spread 2-3 Tablespoonful of batter. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until it get brown crisp. Add more oil if the pan seems dry.

Wow, these look and sound really delicious...!!! I have never heard of mung bean pancakes, but I know that that I'll give this recipe a shot as soon as I have mung bean in mypantry. I just checked out the Kimchi Chronicle website, it's so interesting, thank you for sharing, Holly :)!

Of course you can. You need to soak the whole mungs bean overnight and rub them with both hands. The skin will come off easily if the beans are fully soaked, and will float to the top in the water while the yellow flesh will sink to the bottom. Rinse out the beans removing as much skins as possible. Some might not come off well, but it is okay.

This looks amazing. I have everything at home to make these! We use to do Korean pancakes, but then we found out that my kids are allergic to wheat and have been missing them a lot. This is a wheat free recipe! I am going to make them tonight! thanks :)

Thank you for the idea. I've been trying to experiment kimchi recipes with my French friends here in France. I will try this recipe with lentils, perhaps. Is it possible to have your link to Koreataste.org to share your recipes? Thank you.

My halmoni just brought us a huge bag of dried yellow spit mung beans and i had no idea how to cook it. This recipe made me realize how long its been since i ate bindaetteok and i guess I will be eating it daily now. Thank you again for your great recipes :)

I made it today the first time. We had a big family so I doubled the amount of the recipe and was a little anxious how it would turn out. To my great relief, it was great!! Instead of pork, I added chopped squid and it was quite delicious too. I gave some to my son's friend who was here while I was cooking to take home. His mom called immediately after trying it. They were enjoying it too! Can the leftover pancake freeze well? Thank you.

Oh my! I have been searching for this recipe for years! I used to eat mung bean pancakes when I lived in a different city and love them. I made your recipe this weekend and they are simply gorgeous! I had to hunt to find kimchee, but it was so worth it. Thank you for sharing.

I've been making these pancakes with my Korean MIL for over 15 years on New Year's Day, and I am thrilled to have found your easy to follow and common sense recipe!! The simple addition of the rice to the mung beans during soaking is the best tip!! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. And, have a wonderful, healthy, delicious New Years!!

hi,
thank you for this recipe, the pancakes taste really great!
could recommend another recipe which using wild fern? i bought a whole bag and now i don't know what to do with it....
thanks & hello from munich, germany
sophie

Helo;
Thank you for this most exciting recipe. I am most excited to give it a try. Can I use sauerkraut instead of the kimchi? i sometimes react to kimchi and I need a viable alternative for it. Also, is there a suitable sub for the wild fern? Thank you.